Chilled somen noodle served with grated ginger, scallion and a delicious dipping sauce called Tsuyu. This is a perfect Japanese noodle recipe for hot summer days.
When the weather is getting warmer and you start losing your appetite, what do you usually end up eating? Growing up in Asia, summers were often brutally hot. To beat the heat, my favorite go-to dishes on these hot summer days are Japanese cold noodles dishes such as somen and soba. As you slurp the slippery Cold Somen Noodles dipped in delicious tsuyu, you feel your body starting to cool in the summer heat.
What is Somen Noodles?
Sōmen (素麺,そうめん) are white Japanese noodles made of wheat flour and they are very thin, about 1 mm in diameter. The dough is stretched with the help of vegetable oil to make very thin strips and then air dried. You can read more about the somen making process here.
How do I cook somen noodles?
Because of its thinness, somen noodles often take less than 3-4 minutes to cook in boiling water. While cooking, you want to stir the noodles with chopsticks to prevent sticking. Once cooked, drain the noodles in a colander immediately and use you hands to gently rinse the noodles under cold running water. This helps to remove the excess starch from the noodles.
Somen are usually served cold with a dipping sauce called Tsuyu (つゆ). The dipping sauce is the same Japanese dashi-based broth used in hot soup, but more concentrated in flavor. Flavored with scallions and ginger, the sauce is light yet incredibly aromatic. You can also add shiso leaf or myoga if you can find them at Japanese grocery stores.
To make it more filling, you can definitely bulk up the noodles by tossing in other ingredients such as shredded egg crepes (see How to Make Kinshi Tamago), julienned cucumbers or ham. I love my somen noodles just as it is. In my humble opinion, there is nothing more comforting and satisfying than enjoying the long strands of chilled slippery somen noodles with the sweet savory sauce on its own. It is truly one of the simple dishes that highlights the uniqueness of somen noodles.
Jin, my friend from middle school, sent me these packages of somen noodles from Shodo Island where he currently lives. The pink somen noodles are made of Ume (梅), Japanese plum. Tenobe (手延) Somen from Shodo Island has made the region famous as one of Japan’s top three producers of somen noodles. These somen noodles are hard to get overseas, but my favorite Ibonoito brand is available in Japanese grocery stores and I highly recommend this brand.
Enjoy the cold somen noodles as a light meal or afternoon snack!
* We usually decorate the noodles with Japanese maple leaves, but I couldn’t find them so I use maple leaves instead.
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- 4 bundles dried somen noodles
- ½ inch ginger
- 1 green onion/scallion
- Shiso leaves (Ooba) (thinly sliced, optional)
- Myoga ginger (thinly sliced, optional)
- ¼ cup Mentsuyu/Tsuyu (noodle soup base) (See Notes for homemade recipe)
- ½-1 cup water (cold iced, if you use concentrated Mentsuyu)
- [Optional] Traditional Japanese restaurants tie up the noodles to enhance the appearance of the somen and this is how you do it. Tie the edge of somen noodles with cooking twine. This way noodles will stay in one direction while cooking. I normally skip this step for home use.
- Boil water in a large pot. When boiling, remove the wrapper.
- Add the somen noodles in the boiling water, stirring noodles with chopsticks so they don’t stick to each other. Cook according to the package instructions. If necessary, add a little bit of cold water in the pot to prevent overflowing.
- Drain somen in a colander and wash the noodles with hands under running water.
- Once noodles are cold, find the knotted parts of somen noodles and pick them up. Cut off the edge and discard. Hold each bundle gently and arrange it nicely on a serving plate. Somen can be served with ice to keep cool.
- Cut the scallion finely and grate the ginger. Put them in small dishes. Put Mentsuyu in small bowls and add cold (iced) water to dilute. Put small portion of scallion and ginger in the dipping sauce and dip the somen noodles to eat. Enjoy!
Mentsuyu (noodle soup base): Homemade recipe, click here.
Recipe by Namiko Chen of Just One Cookbook. All images and content on this site are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without my permission. If you’d like to share this recipe on your site, please re-write the recipe in your own words and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.
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Hi Nami,
I love somen in the summer and make a somen “salad” which is a recipe my sister passed onto me originally from the LA Times. I cook 3 – 4 bundles of noodles and placed cooked noodles in a 9 X 14 baking dish. I cover the noodles with shredded lettuce, chopped green onion, kamaboku or imitation crab flakes, cooked shredded scrambled eggs, and pieces of ham. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and teriyaki type of sauce/dressing. Scoop out spoonfuls to each person. Yum.
Hi Randy! Yes, I eat it like Hiyashi Chuka (with eggs, crabs, shredded egg crepe, etc) too! Moms always prefer to feed some protein and veggies with noodles, so I never actually had just noodles only… no matter how hot day it was. 🙂 Thank you very much for your kind comment!
Woohoo! You are in my neck of the woods. If you find yourself in Santa Maria try the restaurant Atari-ya! Or you could try Goshi in San Luis Obispo. 🙂
You live in such a wonderful place! We’re hoping to go back soon. I heard about Atariya and Goshi, and hope to try both one day! Thank you very much for your comment. xo
These cold noodles have been a favorite of mine since I lived in Japan. There is nothing better on a hot summer day !!!! Thank you for posting!
Hi Carlyn! I totally agree! At least we know one dish that is nutritious and appetizing on hot days. 🙂 Thank you for your comment! xo
Thanks for sharing this recipe, Nami. Sometimes when it’s so hot, it’s hard to figure out what to eat. I usually just think of eating salads. I will be making this soon even though it’s never hot where I’m at.
Hi Candice! I know, it’s rarely hot in this area…. except for yesterday was like 90F here on Peninsula. 🙂 Thank you for your comment!
What would you pair this with? Bought somen noodles accidentally bc I picked them up in a hurry and didn’t check the package, just the price tag which read udon. Anyways, I’d like to try this but I’m sure my family will want something else than just noodles 😅
Hi Kessia! Usually, we don’t put anything on Somen and serve with some side dishes – really anything you like, meat dish, vegetable dish… as long as you want to eat with this noodle.
My family eat Somen like Hiyashi Chuka too (https://www.justonecookbook.com/hiyashi-chuka-cold-ramen/) with same ingredients but with somen dipping sauce.
If you want to serve with a side dish, here are some choices: https://www.justonecookbook.com/categories/recipes/side/
I like cold noodles. I’ve prepared Tanabata some last week 🙂
Ohh the colorful one!? I saw the supermarkets here in Japan were selling colorful somen (mostly white, but include some pink and green colors). 🙂
Thank you for sharing another great recipe! It was the 1st time I made somen and it did not disappoint! Very tasty, and a great change from cold soba which we make on a regular basis.
I will buy myoga ginger and shiso leaves for when I make it next.
Best,
Taline from Paris
Hi Taline! I hope you can find shiso and myoga ginger in Paris! It’s really nice kick to the noodles. I’m glad you can now enjoy two popular summer noodles! 🙂
Hi! Been hoping for an actual noodle recipe but these seem to be hard to find online. I am pretty comfortable with making ramen noodles from scratch, but wanted to make these to enjoy some cold noodles during the summer. Are these pretty much just very thin ramen noodles without kansui? Could you just make and eat them fresh?
Hi Artur! Somen is something we usually buy from the store because it involves many steps including drying the noodles. It’s much more complicated than making udon noodles. I found this video that explains the steps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syh8tJezHXg
This is why we don’t make somen noodles at home and you have a hard time finding the recipe. 🙂